Aggies hope gradual improvement continues at Auburn

LAS CRUCES - The New Mexico State Aggie football team has improved over the past three games. At least defensively they have.

With that in mind, NMSU (1-7 overall record, 0-4 in the WAC) enters the stretch drive of its schedule in hopes of pushing some teams and perhaps capturing another win or two. Such a mindset will be necessary Saturday when the team visits Auburn (1-7, 0-6 in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference), for a 10:30 a.m. (MDT) kickoff.

"We want to scare the hell oughta these teams we're playing," head coach DeWayne Walker said. "If you want to call us the spoilers, I guess that's kind of who we are at this stage of the season .... These guys, they work their tails off. They come out every day in practice, they work hard, they prepare. I have to tip my hat off to our players and our coaches. It's one of those years, if they wanted to take a knee, they could. That's the beauty about these guys. They don't look at our record. We just come in every Monday and prepare to play who's next on the schedule."

Defensively, the Aggies growth was apparent last weekend in a 28-14 loss to Louisiana Tech (the Bulldogs entered the contest averaging 56 points per game). NMSU's coverage in the secondary and overall tackling appeared two-steps ahead compared to earlier this season in losses to the likes of Ohio, UTEP and New Mexico, to name a few.

The past three games - at Idaho, at Utah State and vs. Louisiana Tech - has at least seen the unit pick up its play.

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"You want to put your defensive players in position to make plays and it was nice last week to get a glimpse of that. It'd be nice if we can continue that the rest of the season," Walker said.

"Those are the things you want to look at. We're paid to win football games and our players are paid through their scholarships to win games. But when you're going through things - and we're not the only football team in the country going through some things - you want to see your guys improve and continue to work."

Offensively, however, NMSU hasn't made nearly the same progress.

Schematically the Aggies have played better and moved the football adequately. But they've shot themselves in the foot repeatedly, particularly via the turnover. New Mexico State holds a minus-10 turnover ratio (Auburn sits at the same number), a factor that was no-more apparent than last weekend. Three third-quarter turnovers for NMSU saw a 7-0 deficit turn into a 28-0 score heading into the final period.

"Last game it was around midfield and Utah State it was around the 20 or 30, we'd start shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers," tight end Trevor Walls lamented. "Those are things we really need to correct."

The handling of some offensive position groupings has been puzzling, including quarterback. Backup Travaughn Colwell has been used exclusively as a wildcat runner (in eight games played, Colwell's attempted just one pass while running the ball 16 times for 77 yards). He was also responsible for one of last week's turnovers when he fumbled a snap from under center on a fourth-and-short play - the sophomore has taken most, if not all of his snaps this season in shotgun formation.

"There's two ways of looking at it," Walker said of putting Colwell in such a position. "He takes snaps in practice under center .... Or that's a critical spot of the game, why would you put him under center? It depends on how you want to spin it."

The head coach indicated Colwell's role could expand down the stretch of the season.

"We'd like to," the head coach said. "You never know how guys will play in games, you try to judge them in practice. He's improved considerably. Can he manage games in terms of starting a game or splitting (more) time?....We'll continue to play him and judge him off the snaps he gets."

Some bright spots for the Aggies attack recently: starting quarterback Andrew Manley played better last week while the offensive line has made some strides since the team's bye week on Oct. 13. Running back Germi Morrison has also been effective, rushing for 254 yards on 51 carries (4.9-yards-per carry average) over his last three starts.

"At the end of the day, their job is to score points too," Walker pointed out. "You look at the last four or five games, not many points."

Can the Aggies play spoiler this weekend against Auburn? They'll hope to continue their improvement against a one-win football team that won the national championship just two years ago.

"Winning a game like this, I'm not going to say it'd make our season, but it'd make it a lot better," Walls said. "We were expecting to win eight games. That was our goal, was to be a bowl team. Since that's out of the picture now, we're kind of playing spoiler. Any win we can get, especially against an SEC team, that'd definitely push us in the right direction."

Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg